Do you feel too happy? Are you enjoying your life little too much right now? Do you want to see a movie about two beautiful people arguing about everything, examining their relationship, and proving even hot, rich people have issues? Well, do I have a movie for you! Just login to your Netflix account and watch Malcolm & Marie right now!

Yes, I am being slightly cheeky, so let’s get serious for a second. One of the first movies to be “written, directed, and completed during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States” (source IMDb.com) and thank god it’s not about the pandemic (but trust me, those films are coming) and I think Sam Levinson (the director of this film and the creator of Euphoria (2019 -, also starring Zendaya) made the best out of the bad situation. With very limited resources, with people not being able to travel, he made a movie that happens during one night, it’s literally just two actors and most importantly, it doesn’t feel “cheap”. He made those limitations work for him, where ultimately, you could see something like this being made even if there was no pandemic (imagine… and I have just remembered that video of celebrities singing Imagine, so let me recover from that cringe).

Ok, I am back now, so let’s talk about Malcolm & Marie. As weird as this might sound, it’s definitely up to you how much enjoyment you will get out of this film. I know what you are thinking “well, now you have described literally every movie ever, thanks! So helpful from you!” but with this one, it is almost a different ballpark, as there are only two characters, two actors who pretty much do not leave the screen for 106 minutes, so you are either with them, or not. The movie is also stylised and shot in black and white (I thought that decision worked quite well) and minus the music played by our main characters, it’s without any soundtrack. That worked well sometimes, but sometimes the “song choices” were a bit too much on the nose, so it pulled me out of a moment or two. I understand those characters were being petty towards each other, so the song choices might have been appropriate for them, but in some bigger moments, that wasn’t working for me too much.

But the main “selling” point of this movie is definitely the “gimmick”, the draw if you will – one location, one night, two actors, already mentioned Zendaya and John David Washington. And I could watch those two reading Apple’s terms and conditions for 2 hours and it would still be worth it, as they both give this movie their 100%. I knew both of them from their previous projects, so I wasn’t surprised how great they were, but there was something about this mix that just worked for me even more than I expected. To me, and as much as I loved his work in this film, this is Zendaya’s movie. She can do funny, cute, crazy, sad, mad, sexy, and in some scenes, those emotions can all be there within a few minutes and she delivers every single time. Especially her big speech at the end stunned me and that is where you will see that as with most of relationships, there is a lot to process, there are two sides to everything and yet you can not help but really understand her character a bit more, where was she coming from the entire time and she sells it. Honestly, I can’t wait for her to win an Oscar in a couple of years time, as you know it’s just a question of “when”, rather than “if”. And the same goes for John David Washington, he’s immensely talented individual, who doesn’t (physically) remind me of his dad (for those who don’t know, he is Denzel Washington‘s son) until he opens his mouth, as to me, that is how I knew he is his “kid”, as they sound almost identical. I am glad to see he’s inherited some of his dad’s talent and probably took some acting advices from him (I mean, if your dad was one of the finest actors of all time, you would be dumb not to ask a few questions, especially if you want to act yourself) as he’s brilliant.

Where the movie loses me a bit was towards the end, where some of the arguments feel a bit hollow and technically you can make an excellent short film out of this (let’s say 20/30 minutes) as the main point or even the history between our main (and only) characters isn’t THAT complicated. Sometimes, the movie almost wallows in that misery too much and I didn’t think it was necessary.

What this movie does really well is making you root for a different character every 20/30 minutes. When this movie started, I was 100% in Zendaya’s corner, when John David had his big speech about movies and movie criticism and how today’s society works (“Does the male gaze exist if the filmmaker’s gay and not straight? And to what degree? What if they’re asexual?”) I understood his character better and agreed with him to a certain extent… and I think that’s also a sign of a good movie, where you are basically swinging like a pendulum, and at the end of the movie you understand nobody’s perfect, she’s made mistakes, he’s made mistakes and they either learn to talk about them/live with each other despite those, or they call the entire relationship off. I did appreciate the ending, where to me, it was clear what happens with them after the movie is over, but it is very much open to an interpretation.

Overall, Malcolm & Marie is a hard movie to rate without feeling you need to take sides, or be personally involved. It makes you reflect on your relationships, past and present, and hopefully it makes you understand how sometimes, you are not 100% right and you just need to listen to your significant other and talk to them about difficult things, that are hard to talk about. It makes you reflect on your past decisions and fights you might’ve had and possibly re-evaluate them. Or not and you are here just to watch two hot people fighting for almost two hours, that’s ok too, we don’t kink shame around here 😉

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Ever since I got more serious about movies, when I started to “track” the TOP movies of all time, read about the most influential movies from the years long gone, The Passion of Joan of Arc was a title that came up a lot. Many called it one of the most influential movies of all time, others said it’s still as powerful today as it was back in 1928… long story short, I have heard a lot about this movie. And finally, I managed to watch it.

This film is definitely powerful. There is something about this being silent film, where it just works better without any dialogue, just the overpowering music score and great camera work. That is all you need to make an impact. That and of course, powerful story, and what other story could be more powerful than a woman being prosecuted and burned to death (I really hope nobody considers this a spoiler, for historical reasons) for something she believes in greatly. That’s another aspect of why this movie is cherished and has been ever since it’s been made, the stunning imagery between Joan and everybody else, where she is the only woman in this film (apart from maybe some other ones in a crowd scenes…?) and she goes up against these usually old men of power, where they try to get her to betray her faith, and she just does not. And eventually, when she does, she realises it’s wrong and chooses death (again, I would hope everybody is familiar with the historic story behind this movie).

The only thing I would say, which is the only reason I can’t give it higher marks, the movie drags on a bit. And to be honest, I don’t think I am judging this movie based on today’s standards. But I have watched other movies from that era (perfect example is Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), which was simply a perfect movie) and I can appreciate them in their own right. But I honestly felt that the length of The Passion of Joan of Arc is bit too much. Because at the end of the day, the story is simple enough, this could really be 20 minute shorter, if you really wanted. All I am saying is sometimes, even though I was admiring the movie, I found myself a bit bored, and that should definitely not be the case, mainly when comes to a movie about this subject.

But other than that, there is nothing I could say against this film. The Passion of Joan of Arc is still a relevant, chilling and overall impactful piece of cinema, that definitely has its place in history. It’s unbelievable how much were the actors able to get across without any dialogue, without any words, just some good old fashioned text on the black background, powerful piece of music, brilliant camera work and great acting.

Overall, I think your enjoyment of this film heavily corelates with how much you care about influential pieces of cinematic history. If you are a casual movie fan, who doesn’t really care for silent movies, you might want to skip this one. If, however, you would consider yourself a cinephile (like me) and love to explore movies from any film decade to see how films were made almost 100 years ago, The Passion of Joan of Arc would be the movie for you. The only thing going against it is the pace of this movie is slightly uneven at times, but the last images from this film will stay with you.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Films like Lucky are so rare nowadays. Why? Because in their simplicity, their straightforwardness, they feel like pure, raw cinema. I know this might sound really pretentious, but I don’t know how else to express what I felt while watching this movie. Because here’s the thing – on the surface, there is nothing too special about the story. We follow an old person, who’s going about his monotone life, basically waiting to die. He’s got his routine, his friends, he is surrounded by people most of the time, but he still feels lonely. And afraid of what’s coming. Doesn’t sound too special right? Well, John Carroll Lynch (for whom this is a directorial debut and what I great one!) made it special, by casting the best people.

Harry Dean Stanton was always a great actor of small recognition. I honestly feel it’s a shame that he never was at least nominated for an Oscar (anyone who’s seen Paris, Texas (1984) knows it wasn’t for luck of great roles showcasing his talent) as he’s always been one of those actors, who no matter the movie he was in, he always delivered. And Lucky might be one of his best performances. It’s almost unbelievable and sad that he knew this might be he his final film. Maybe that is why he put his heart and soul into this film and without any exaggeration, you can feel it. This movie touches you on a deep personal level, and pulls you in really slowly and without realising, you are in. And you can feel everything he feels – the pain, the uncertainty (will there be another day?) the loneliness… And most of it is shown, not spoken.

That is what I really appreciated in this movie – plenty of “big” scenes don’t rely on dialogue, they rely on Harry Dean Stanton to do his thing, they rely on others around him to rise to his level and they do. Like David Lynch (one of my favourite directors ever and really close friend of Harry’s) playing his good friend here. He’s not given plenty of scenes, but those ones he’s in, he’s got such a presence you won’t forget him. The same goes for Ron Livingston – another one of those actors, such as Harry Dean, who’s mostly in great things and he’s usually good, but doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.

Even though Lucky deals with the heaviest topic(s) possible (death, loneliness) it never feels exploitative, it never feels like it’s being “sad for the sake of it”. It feels organic and that is why the sad scenes resonate with those touching scenes (Harry singing at the birthday party, or his speech at the bar towards the end about “the truth”) so beautifully, they hit you the way you won’t be expecting. They definitely hit me and that is how I knew I absolutely adore this movie. It’s not flashy, it definitely takes its time, but man, if it isn’t one great, film!

Usually, I don’t have a problem writing a review for a movie I really loved, as it’s quite easy – you just describe what you love about the movie, right? But with Lucky, I find it surprisingly difficult, as I didn’t expect for this movie to get to me as much as it did. Everything resonated with me on personal level, as at the end of the day, aren’t these the things most of us are worried about? The fact we will end up all alone, by ourselves, no matter what we do, the fact that nothing really matters, and yet, we keep on smiling, we keep on going…? And this is what the movie is about. The will to keep on going, the need for another human being to be there for us.

Lucky is truly one of a kind movie, that is small in scope, but big in everything else, especially heart. And I don’t really care how cheesy this might sound, because I don’t think there is a better to describe it, even if I were to consume the entire Thesaurus. Lucky feels like a raw force of what a movie should be and the perfect farewell to a truly underappreciated character actor, who Harry Dean Stanton definitely was. If you feel like honouring his memory, do yourself a favour and watch this film. I don’t think you will regret it.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

If you actually read my reviews for the previous Back to the Future movies (if not, what are you doing here? And of course, I will provide you with the links, here’s the review for the first one and here’s the review for the second one), it should not surprise you that this is my favourite one out of the entire trilogy. I know, yet again, I am going against most of the fans, that consider this to be “an alright” movie at best, for whatever reason. But I honestly think this movie doesn’t deserve to be as overlooked as it is.

First of all, the story is pretty singular one, except for the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes, we are in one place, one time period, that just happens to be the Wild West. I think this is where the biggest issue for, especially the younger generation lies, – for some reason, westerns are not as beloved as they used to be. And plenty of people don’t necessarily hate westerns, but it’s not their favourite genre, to put it mildly. So that is one pretty big thing going up against this movie from the very start. Then we have the fact that the pacing of this movie is slower, because again, it’s more singular story, we don’t jump from one time period to the next one, therefore the movie takes its time, but it never bores you. Or at least, it never bored me.

Ever since the first time I have seen this trilogy, there was something about this film, the Part III that spoke to me the most. And even though I like westerns, I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite genre, not by far. I think I have always liked it because it finishes this huge story and I think it does it well. Marty learns his lesson and avoids (hopefully) his bad future we saw in the Part II, Doc falls in love with Mary Steenburgen who is so perfect for him. I really like when the writers understand their characters so well, they know Doc wouldn’t have fallen in love with just anybody, so Clara Clayton is smart, kind and lovely person, who completes Doc’s character beautifully. And the movie’s actual ending is just ambiguous enough that you could possibly see a potential sequel, but also it ties everything together. Maybe that is another part of the reason why I always admired this film. Even now, I am scrambling my brain for these big trilogies/franchises and they either end completely (book is shut, nothing else is there to be written) or there is a hint of another story, sequel, that mostly never happens. There might be another film, but at this moment, only Back to the Future Part III manages to make it almost 50/50, but in satisfying way, where you don’t feel cheated at the end of the movie.

Who I think works exceptionally well in this film is Thomas F. Wilson, aka “Mad Dog” Tannen, Biff’s ancestor. In this movie, he’s got so many funny moments like:

Marty: “I’m not really feeling up to this today, so I’m gonna have to forfeit.“

Mad Dog: “Forfeit. FORFEIT?” turns to his gang: “What’s that mean?“

Gang member: “Um… it means that you win without a fight.“

Mad Dog: “Without shooting? He can’t do tha…” turns back to Marty “Hey, you can’t do that!“

And this is just one of many of lines he’s got in this movie, where more often than not, he’s really funny, but at the same time, given the time period and the lawlessness of the Wild West, you understand he’s actually dangerous. Let’s face it, in the previous movies, the worst that could happen to Marty is Biff beats him up, but that’s about it. In this one, he’s no bully, but a gang leader, who killed “12 men, not including Indians or Chinamen.” based on another quote about him from the film. That makes him slightly more dangerous, at least in my eyes.

Overall, even though I have rated every movie in this trilogy the same way, there are tiny differences for me. I can’t say one is much worse than the other ones, because I do honestly love this trilogy and without one, the others would work. But I can easily pick my favourite one. And for the reasons mentioned above, Back to the Future Part III is my favourite movie of this great trilogy. It has got a contained, singular story with beginning, middle and end, that’s great on its own, but on top of that, ties the previous movies together in satisfying way and leaves a tiny chance for a sequel, that I am 99.9% certain, will never happen, but it does it so well, it doesn’t take anything away from the actual ending of this movie and trilogy. I honestly think people underestimate how much this movie nails everything (its own story, the overall ending to this trilogy) and I hope in the future, the movie gets the appreciation it deserves.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

During my latest re-watch, something finally clicked with me and this trilogy – each film has its own thing. Back to the Future (1985, my review here) is the one that (unsurprisingly) sets everything in motion but also has (except the very end) self-contained story. Back to the Future Part II as we know, was filmed alongside Back to the Future Part III and therefore there are plenty of things that are setup in this movie, but truly pay off in the third one. But also there is another thing that strikes you, when you watch the Part II again – it really jumps from one place to another.

I don’t think it makes it confusing, but out of all three movies, this one feels more like a bridge between two movies with mostly singular stories, because this story takes you to plenty of places… in time, to be precise. Which can be great, especially now, where we live past the year 2015 to see how many things the people behind this trilogy got right and how many they got wrong. But since this movie is the bridge between two movies, it “suffers” from being almost “too full of information”, if that makes sense…?

Let me try to make it clear – I admire the level of planning and details they put into making these movies, especially shooting Part II & III back to back, that allowed them to play around with a variety of stuff, which is great. But they have fallen into a trap of making this movie to heavily reliant not only to Part III but also on the previous movie, since it’s literally picking up right from where we left off. That is what makes this movie the “least” favourite of main, but don’t get me wrong, it’s still up there, quality wise. It’s just you can’t really watch it on its own, the same way you could watch plenty of great “second movies” on their own – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Aliens (1986), Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980, my review here) and more, these are all great second movies in their franchise, that you could watch on their own, more or less. Don’t get me wrong, you’d be better off watching their first movies prior, sure. But you wouldn’t be totally lost if you skipped them either, as all of these work on their own. And I think Back to the Future Part II doesn’t as much, compared to them.

That’s not to say it doesn’t work at all – it’s got plenty of good things, especially the jokes/predictions about what the year 2015 will be like (how fixated we will be on nostalgia, video chatting, plenty of sequels etc.) and the story makes sense, even though it can feel like it’s jumping from one time period to another one rather quickly. Another thing I liked, is the fact Biff in this movie is based on Donald Trump (no fake news, read it for yourself here) and given everything all of us have been through with him from the campaign starting 2015 to the end of his presidency in the early 2021, we can judge for ourselves how accurate (or not) his portrayal was.

As mentioned in my review for the first Back to the Future movie, I can’t rank any of these any lower than the full rating, as it’s hard for me to judge them on their own. I just love this trilogy with everything, warts and all. Realistically, this would “only” be 4* for me, but that’s still really, really high, because this movie is great and everything mostly holds up (where are the goddamn hoverboards!?) Personally, this is just not my favourite out of this bunch. But more on that on Friday 😉

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke